Clemson Football: Three Tigers named to Lombardi Award preseason watchlist

Tyler Davis, Jeremiah Trotter, and Barrett Carter have been racking up the preseason accolades for Clemson Football. Tuesday, they added one more.

All three players have been named to the Lombardi Award watchlist, which is given annually to the best down lineman or linebacker “who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL’s legendary coach Vince Lombardi”.

Lombardi was the coach of the Green Bay Packers and led them to victory in the first two Super Bowls. He played college football at Fordham and coached there and at West Point before going to the NFL.

The Lombardi was first awarded in 1970. The 2022 winner was Will Anderson from Alabama. Other notable winners include Aidan Hutchinson from Michigan, Aaron Donald from Pittsburgh, Luke Kuechly from Boston College, and David Pollack from Georgia. No player from Clemson has ever won the award.

Davis, Trotter, and Carter join seventy-five other nominees from around the country on the Lombardi watchlist. Other players included from the ACC include Christian Mahogany from Boston College, Graham Barton and DeWayne Carter from Duke, D’Mitri Emmanuel and Jared Verse from Florida State, Cedric Gray from North Carolina, and Michael Jurgens from Wake Forest.

The only other player from the Carolinas is JT Killen from Coastal Carolina.

Davis, Trotter and Carter represent Clemson Football on multiple watchlists

Other notable names include Kris Jenkins from Michigan, Brock Bowers from Georgia, Tommy Eichenberg from Ohio State, Harold Perkins from LSU, and JT Tuimoloau from Ohio State.

All three players have been named to the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik watchlists. Trotter and Carter were both named to the Butkus watchlist, while Davis was on the Outland watchlist. Trotter was also on the Walter Camp Player of the Year watchlist.

Will Shipley (Maxwell, Doak Walker, Wuerffel, Paul Hornung), Cade Klubnik (Davey O’Brien), Andrew Mukuba (Jim Thorpe), Ruke Orhorhoro (Outland), Will Putnam (Rimington), Jake Briningstool (John Mackey) and Dabo Swinney (Dodd) have also been named to preseason watchlists.